It's Not So Simple
by ALostWinchester
Summary: Dean hasn't seen Selina in years, and when she calls he jumps. Sam doesn't get it at first, but it's important to Dean. It's the one thing John and Dean Winchester never defeated and Dean isn't sure he wants to.
1. Chapter 1

It had been a quiet day. It often was for the Winchester brothers after they killed something. Both were too tired to speak and often took turns driving to the next city that deserved their attention. Now they were pulling into the car park for Tricky Dicky's Diner – a late night diner Dean had insisted they go to so he could visit a friend.

"So who is this friend?" Sam had asked after Dean announced that Tricky Dicky's was the next stop. They were staking out a house for another supernatural nuisance from inside the Impala.

"Selina Kyle." Dean answered.

"Catwoman?"

"What?"

"That's Catwoman's true identity."

"Nerd." Dean murmured under his breath. Sam rolled his eyes and settled back into the chair. The clock ticked on.

"What did she call for?"

"She didn't say."

"Did you ask?"

"If 'Lina needs help-"

"'Lina?" Sam asked suggestively.

"What?" Dean was getting defensive. And he stayed that way about 'Lina the all the way to Tricky Dicky's. All Sam knew was Dean trusted her enough to know she wasn't pulling his leg for help. As he turned off the Impala's engine he nudged Dean awake. His brother grunted to life and followed his lead out of the car. Sam left Dean behind to stretch out and was half way to the doorsteps when he had to stop. A cold sensation came over him. His breath became visible before him. He looked left, then right and saw a girl – with eyes all too like the yellow-eyed demon's.

"Sam! Run!" Dean ordered, his voice hoarse from projecting it so urgently.

Sam took his brother's advice and headed back for the Impala. But Dean was running past it now, so Sam followed.

The streets in this town were quiet enough for the ghost or demon or whatever humanoid monster it was, to swoop past Dean and Sam as they ran, scrambling to find salt or iron. It knocked them to their feet, tore at their clothes and skin and roared awful things at them in their ear. They barely made it back to the Impala in one piece just under an hour later.

"What the Hell was that?" Sam barked at Dean as Dean took over driving and pulled out of the diner.

"Sammy," Dean warned, but Sam continued to holler about eyes and Hell Hounds, so Dean repeated his warning, "Sammy! Wrap up you arm."

"What?"

"It's bleeding."

Sam looked down, and sure enough, his arm was bleeding onto Dean's car seat. He shut up and tried to grip it and search for a make-shift tourniquet. Dean drove silently.

As soon as Dean was done cleaning himself up in the kitchenette of the motel, he left without a word to Sam who was still cleaning up in the bathroom. At the first bar he could find he saw 'Lina drawing and talking into a mobile phone. He ordered two whiskeys and took position on the stool next to her.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey 'Lina."

"Dean," she greet him, with the same tired smile she had shared with him since they met.

"For you." He said, passing her the whiskey.

"You know me so well." She said to the glass.

"I saw Isobel last night." He told her sombrely. She tilted the glass a little higher as she took a drink, set it back on the bartop, and took a moment to enjoy her drink before replying,

"Oh dear, how is she?"

"Still pissed." He grunted, shifting in his seat and remembering all the stitches he'd not long since put in.

"After all this time? You'd think a ghost would learn how to mellow out."

"At least you don't have to see her."

"That depends on how you look at it."

Dean grunted, taking a long swig from his glass.

"I heard about your father." She said, something no one ever brought up, "I'm sorry."

Dean wasn't sure what the appropriate response was. Losing his father was a loss to 'Lina too and he'd failed to call her.

"Still can't talk about it?" she suggested, and he was happy to let her think that. Then it occurred to him he was afraid she would ask questions; he hadn't realised it would be hard to talk about.

"You haven't changed." He grinned, changing the subject.

"Sure I have, I picked me up some fancy new scars." She said it playfully but the heavy sigh after it gave the weariness away. It was comforting to hear.

"Tell me about it."

"Are you hunting by yourself now?" Lina asked, swinging dangerously close to the dead-dad subject.

"No, I have my brother, Sam, with me. Isobel was just as intent of killing him as she was me." Again Dean tried to swerve the subject of his dad. Lina scoffed,

"Is he half as charming as you?"

Dean paused for a second for impact, "Definitely not."

Lina smiled politely and took her second sip. She didn't know how to control her burden and he knew it, so she tried another topic altogether. She noticed his glass,

"I wish I could say you look good, Dean, but that drink is gone and you look like Hell."

Dean glanced from his glass to Lina's and the comparison was grim. While his glass was now empty, she still had half of hers left.

"I've been better." He shrugged.

"Everyone finally died off?" she said. That was one thing he didn't miss about her; she had no tact. All he could do in response was to clench his jaw.

"Yeah, that'll do it." She sighed sympathetically. She emptied the glass into her mouth and gave the barman eye contact. The young guy approached.

"I'm buying that bottle over there, take it away from me and I'll make a scene you wont forget okay?" the young guy obliged and she poured hearty glasses for she and Dean to broach hard subjects with.


	3. Chapter 3

Several hours later, Sam had needed to get out the motel room and find Dean, who wasn't answering his cell-phone. Dean had acted strangely and Sam wanted answers; he had been patient enough. So when he walked into the bar and saw Dean with the monster they had been running from, laughing and drinking, he wasn't sure how to approach the pair.

She spotted him first, only her eyes were grey and not yellow. She beckoned him over and Dean turned as she stood saying,

"Sam! I feel like we've known each other for years." She embraced him and he pulled a face at Dean; what the Hell?

"Relax Sammy," Dean assured him, "Have a seat. This is 'Lina."

"Then what was –"

"My sister." Lina answered, interrupting so Sam couldn't finish his description of the ghost of her dead sister.

"But you –"

Dean clapped Sam on the back, cutting him off and instructing him to "Leave it."

Sam settled into a stool and opted for beer instead of whiskey while Dean and Lina caught up on what he gathered to be about fifteen years of distant friendship. They talked about anything besides why she had called until the bar closed for the night. As they stepped outside Dean finally asked,

"So why did you call?"

"You know exactly why I called." She murmured.

"Where are you staying?"

She fumbled in her jacket pocked and pulled out a card for the same motel Sam and Dean were at.

"Will you be alright tonight."

"Yeah, just listen out for a ghost attacking people."

"And if it's you?" Dean ventured. Suddenly Lina became cold. Her features dropped into sadness and she walked away from Sam and Dean.

"What is going on, Dean?" Sam asked, tired of playing games around the situation. Dean started walking and Sam followed, ready to ask until he was answered.

"I met Lina a little after her sister died.

"The ghost." Sam confirmed.

"We didn't know it was her at the time. We burned bones, clothes, dolls, even tried to bless the house. Nothing we did got rid of it. All we really did was piss it off."

"It was attached to Lina." Sam concluded on his own.

"We pulled every string we had, tried every exorcism, bag of voodoo even some alchemy. Nothing got rid of it. Lina isn't stupid, so she knew the more time we spent with her, the less time we spent actually saving people. So we left her with the basics and she hit the road alone, looking for what she calls a cure."

"So why has she called now?"

"There is no cure. We've reached the last resort."

"What's that?"

Dean looked pained, "We have to kill her."

"And you're okay with that?"

"No." Dean said, his pace increasing the same as his agitation.

"Can't you bring her back after it?"

"I'm not exactly itching to try it."

"We've come back –"

"But we've had help." Dean said, stopping not and turning to Sam.

"Couldn't Cas-"

"Sam, no one's going to help her. I've asked. Hell, I've even got someone to show me how to get a defibrillator to work. Do you know how often they actually work though? If we kill Lina, we have to surprise Isobel – which means surprising Lina. We don't get the easy way into this."

"So when she calls, she's calling to die."

"We always knew it would get worse."

"How bad is it?"

"She's not just haunted by the ghost of her sister. Sometimes she's possessed by it. She could put salt around her bed and stop it from going anywhere but if she's called... It's not getting to her in her sleep anymore."

"Then give her one of the necklaces –"

"It's a ghost, not a demon Sam."

"There has to be more options."

"There's not." Dean sighed and took walking to the motel back up.

"You like her, don't you?" Sam concluded, keeping up with Dean.

"We're close enough."

"Then why did you let her go when she walked off before?"

"I'm going to kill her Sam." Dean emphasised, stopping for a second to say this in his face, "Okay, kill her."

"So why are you leaving her alone?"

Dean fixed his jacket violently and turned away from Sam. He didn't try to keep up with his older brother. And they fell back into wordlessness for another evening. It wasn't strained, nothing more needed said.


End file.
